If it feels like your skin has been screaming lately, you're not alone.

Winter months in cold climates can be a recipe for dry, itchy, angry skin. "Xerosis," if you prefer the scientific term.

But figuring out how to keep skin moisturized in the winter can be confusing. Should you change your diet? Drink more water? What about supplements and expensive oils? It's all mixed up in a web of pseudo-science and advice from people trying to sell you stuff.

We've narrowed this winter skin to-do list down to a few simple expert-approved tips.

Winter-dry skin isn't your fault. There's a vicious cycle at work.

It's a combination of dry winter air, and the skin that's right under your nose, your face, and your hands. Actually, it's covering the surface of your entire body.

The uppermost layers of your skin are called the stratum corneum, and they're kind of like your skin's shield, protecting what's inside, while keeping out bad elements from the environment.

Our so-called "shield" of armor, this stratum corneum, is made from about 10-15 micrometers of dead-cell skin. Scientific studies show these outermost layers play an important part in keeping natural moisture inside the skin.

There's one simple ingredient that you should look for on the back of your cream: lactic acid.

While sweet-smelling herbs and organic ingredients probably don't make much of a difference to your skin, there's one key addition that can help: lactic acid. Creams with lactic acid as one of the top ingredients will help you retain moisture.

"They bind moisture, and they smooth the skin," Leffell says.

Check for a label with an active ingredient of "lactic acid" or "ammonium lactate" (moisturizers like AmLactin and Lac Hydrin are good examples, but regardless of which brand you pick, the "lactic" or "lactate" ingredient should be one of the first, usually listed after water.)

Soon, your skin will be as smooth as Cleopatra's.

Fermented dairy products like cheese and yogurt (and yes, sour milk), all have high levels of lactic acid in them. It's produced naturally when bacteria interacts with milk sugar, or lactose. There might not be enough of it in a milk bath to really do the trick for your skin, but modern moisturizers do an excellent job.

Lactic acid is also used by dermatologists for chemical peels.

"If you've been scratching a lot and the skin barrier is broken, it can sting at first when you put it on," Leffell says. "But it can be very effective."

If you're just dealing with problem spots like dry elbows, feet, and lips, old-fashioned petroleum jelly can help, too.

Products like Vaseline and Aquaphor can really help relieve persistently dry patches.

But it's such a sticky remedy, it's probably best to wait until the end of the day and slather on a bit before bedtime, or while relaxing at home.

Your palms and the bottoms of your feet are especially important zones to pay attention to, because they don't have the same kinds of "sebacious glands" that lubricate the rest of our skin with a naturally-produced oily secretion called sebum.

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